[FX.php List] How different is FX from MySQL

[Michael Layne]

I've spent a lot of time in both as well, and I tend to agree with  
Derrick.  With solutions that already exist in FMP, go for it with FX  
and get the benefit of PHP, but starting from scratch (and again, if  
it's primarily a web-based solution), I would go with MySQL every  
time.  As for any learning curve, there is one if you've never written  
in SQL, but there are so many examples, tutorials, even frameworks to  
help, that your resources are virtually unlimited.

On a more detailed note, you use the FX class and syntax, etc. to  
communicate with FM, but once you get your results, what you do in PHP  
doesn't have to be wildly different from what you do after getting  
your results from a SQL statement... 2 different queries, but I have  
one app that uses MySQL for products, and FM for generating orders  
with those products, sometimes all in one file.

SQL:
	$q = "SELECT * FROM catalog WHERE vendor = '" . $_SESSION['vid'] .  
"'"; // display catalogs to begin product selection
	$r = mysql_query($q,$connection) or die ("Unable to retrieve  
information from MySQL server: " . mysql_error());

FX:
	$q = new FX($ip, $port);
	$q->SetDBData($fmdb,$lay);
	$q->AddDBParam('sessionID',session_id()); // grab existing items from  
order items table
	$r = $q->FMFind();

RESULTS (FX):
	foreach ($r['data'] as $l) {
		// do something...
	}

RESULTS (MySQL):
	while ($l = mysql_fetch_assoc($r)) {
		// do something...
	}

  HTH,

Michael

Michael Layne  |  9 degrees development  |  9degrees.com  |  skype:laynebay

On Sep 10, 2008, at 5:50 PM, Derrick Fogle wrote:

> Conversely, I've had almost the opposite experience. Working with  
> MySQL as a backend DB to PHP is extremely simple and  
> straightforward, and there are some very robust libraries - or  
> frameworks - for it. The only thing you lose that makes more code in  
> PHP is the fact that the database doesn't do calculations for you.  
> I'll take that tradeoff for the speed: MySQL is so much faster as a  
> DB than FMP, it's hard to even come up with a figure. Think  
> thousands of times faster, maybe more.
>
> FX.php is an invaluable tool and a godsend if you've already got  
> something running in FMP and need to extend it to the web. But the  
> code is more verbose than MySQL. And with the experience I've got in  
> both PHP and FMP, I find it roughly equivalent to tackle a logic  
> problem in one vs the other. Filemaker's solution always seems to be  
> "yet another field"; PHP is a much bigger and dynamic sandbox, with  
> some really robust functions.
>
> If I have the need for a workgroup DB that doesn't necessarily have  
> to be web-based (i.e. everyone is on the same LAN in the same  
> office), I'll pick FMP and extend a few small portions to the web  
> with FX.php if needed. But if I have an application that needs to be  
> web-based (and that means just about any geographically diverse  
> group of users), I wouldn't even think of staring in FMP except as a  
> modeling tool. It's just too slow, and there's that functionality  
> "wall" you hit with FMP that just doesn't exist in a PHP/MySQL web  
> app.
>
> Just my US $0.00...
>
>
> On Sep 10, 2008, at 1:23 PM, John Funk wrote:
>
>> You do not need FX to connect to MySql.
>> There are many sites dedicated to this. PHP and MySQL work very  
>> well together.
>> My 2 cents: I converted a site from MYSQL to FX/FileMaker and the  
>> resulting code is far simpler.
>> John Funk
>>
>>
>> On 9/10/08 1:13 PM, "Josh Shrier" <joshshrier at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> I have been offered a couple of projects to do PHP with a MySQL  
>>> database. I have become pretty fluent with FX. Can someone tell me  
>>> what the learning curve would be from FX to MySQL.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Josh Shrier
>>>
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>
> Derrick
>
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